The Irish housing crisis was a term given to the housing shortage which began to emerge in 2012 following the recovery in the Irish economy from the combined effects of the collapse of the Irish property bubble and the Great Recession. The shortage has lead to increased homelessness and rapidly falling real disposable income for those in the least affluent sections of society while also creating rapidly rising rents across the country.
The crisis was created by two core economic effects
1. Increasing demand
- An increase in demand from a combination of a Natural population growth, with more births than there were deaths in every year
- A change from negative to positive Net migration rate again after the economy began to recover
2. Supply
- Decreased supply of properties as a result of the collapse of major house building companies
- Decreased supply as a result of lack of available credit for builders
- Constricted planning system which restricts the availability of zoned land
- Repeated changes to the planning system which mean companies are constantly going back to seek more units in a development
- Most onerous height restrictions in Europe
- One of the longest and most complex and costly planning processes in Europe. Challenges can easily be made as well as judicial reviews to prevent buildings being built.